#CyberFLASH: Anonymous denies involvement in hacks

The vigilante hacker collective known as Anonymous has denied involvement in a series of cyber attacks on police, court and government institutions, apparently motivated by the supposed wrongful arrest of a Barrhaven teen.

A Twitter user named Aerith has claimed responsibility, while releasing a series of statements to the press and signing off each time with the Anonymous trademark, “We are Anonymous, We are Legion, We do not forgive, We do not forget, Expect Us.” After the first series of cyber attacks took down the City of Ottawa website, the sign-off was altered to read, “You should have expected us.”

But late Saturday, Twitter user @AnonQC — attached to the Quebec chapter of Anonymous — denied this is one of the group’s operations. It suggests a splinter group of hackers known as Commander X might be behind the operation.

“Op that comes from nowhere no one heard about? Sounds like Commander X,” wrote AnonQC to the Sun, saying that “if you ever come across something that claims (to be) speaking in the name of Anon, it’s false… even your mom could have sent that (press release).”